Former Representative Artur Davis (D-Ala.), then Obama’s campaign co-chair, is pictured speaking for the President at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Aug. 27, 2008. (Photo – Paul Sancya / AP)

Once an important part of the political juggernaut that propelled Obama into office in 2008 (campaign co-chair), and a then southern African-American Democrat, Artur Davis has not only left the president in the dust, he’s hitting the road to the White House for Mitt Romney.

Davis will take the Romney/Ryan fight to battleground state Virginia:

A former four-term Democratic congressman from Alabama and one time strong supporter of President Barack Obama will campaign for Mitt Romney Wednesday.
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Davis, who is black, may be best known for seconding Obama’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention in 2008, when he served as an Obama campaign co-chairman. Davis said he had hoped Obama’s presidency would make a huge dent in race relations, as well as move the Democratic Party further to the center.

In 2010, Davis made an unsuccessful bid for governor of Alabama. In May he announced he was switching to the GOP, leaving the door open to a future political bid as a Republican.

Davis said in June that he thinks his one time political party was becoming more unwelcoming towards Southern conservative Democrats.